A drake mallard has set a velocity file of 103 mph whereas migrating throughout southern Minnesota and southeast North Dakota on April 6, breaking the Cohen Wildlife Ecology Lab’s earlier file of 99.3 mph set on the identical day. The 2 GPS-tracked mallard caught the identical climate entrance that helped them attain prime speeds on their return flights to Canada, however this drake’s observe seems to have simply been reviewed by researchers’ now that he’s homed in on nesting grounds in Manitoba.
“And identical to that, our velocity file is damaged once more!” the Lab wrote in an Instagram publish Monday. “He began his spring migration on February 2nd, which is fairly early for our mallards (our common migration initiation date is normally round mid-March). He took his time shifting north, often stopping at wetlands all through Illinois, Missouri, and Iowa till he caught that massive tailwind. He has lastly settled down in a community of wetlands in western Manitoba the place he’s hopefully maintaining a tally of his nesting hen.”
April 24, 2024 — Spring waterfowl migrations are in full swing as thousands and thousands of geese, geese, and different species depart the southern U.S. and Central America and head towards Canada to dwell out the nice and cozy months. One drake mallard fitted with a GPS tracker from the Cohen Wildlife Ecology Lab at Tennessee Tech broke a lab file on April 6 by reaching a prime velocity of 99.3 miles per hour someplace between southern Minnesota and the Canadian border.
For context, which means the duck was flying as quick as well-known pitcher Aroldis Chapman’s fastball and twice as quick because the world’s quickest land mammal, the cheetah, can run. The Cohen Wildlife Lab posted the feat to its numerous social media accounts Tuesday, together with a map of the greenhead’s northwesterly route.
Anybody conversant in the 4 important migratory flyways of North America will discover that the drake has additionally traveled from the japanese facet of the Mississippi Flyway to the very western fringe of the Central Flyway, and can possible find yourself someplace within the Pacific Flyway earlier than reaching its summering grounds.
“Most of our birds have made it to the prairies, however this drake mallard is main the pack,” a publish on the lab’s Fb web page reads. “He began his spring migration on March 14 however took a 3 week break simply exterior of St. Louis whereas the climate warmed up. He took off once more on April 6 and lined 1000 miles in 29 hours whereas additionally taking an 8-hour break in southern Minnesota. ESE winds gusting over 50 mph on the night of April 6 pushed him 600 miles from southern Minnesota throughout the Canadian border in simply 8 hours. With this loopy tailwind his prime velocity recorded on GPS was 99.3 mph!”
Masking 600 miles in 8 hours means the duck maintained a median velocity of 75 mph throughout that point. The lab’s principal investigator and assistant professor of wildlife ecology and administration Bradley Cohen identified in a reply to a commenter that mallards normally migrate at an altitude of 4,000 to five,000 ft at night time.
“We’re learning the actions throughout the annual cycle of waterfowl, and making an attempt to find out the significance of various habitat sorts for mallards,” Cohen tells Outside Life of his lab. “On the similar time, we’re making an attempt to grasp how mallards steadiness looking threat with entering into these actually worthwhile, high-energy areas like flooded corn, and what the implications of these choices are.”
Whereas this explicit drake broke the lab’s file, it’s not extraordinary for geese to journey at these breakneck speeds once they get good wind at their backs. One pintail hen flew from japanese Russia to California — some 2,000 miles — in 25 hours, sustaining a median velocity of 80 mph because it traversed the width of the Bering Sea. The subsequent day, it crossed three flyways and landed in Louisiana.
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The lab’s posts elicited many feedback of shock and a handful of jokes from duck hunters.
“I believe this can be the identical massive Greenhead I missed on the finish of the season,” one commenter writes. “Dude was shifting!”
A correction was issued on April 24, 2024: A earlier model of this text misstated that Aroldis Chapman was within the Corridor of Fame. This text has additionally been up to date to incorporate commentary from Bradley Cohen, chief of the Cohen Wildlife Ecology Lab.